Photos From Jim

Paulie! Paulie!

2008-07-25T11:13:00.002-05:00

Paul Konerko, first baseman for the Chicago White Sox, at bat. Fans call him "Paulie" and love chanting his name when he's up.

This was a test shot with a new 300mm lens I'd just gotten--I took this at the Cubs vs. White Sox game July 2, 2006. Oh, and the Sox won that day...excellent!

Another picture soon...

Port of San Francisco

2008-07-23T10:07:00.002-05:00

Port of San Francisco
Originally uploaded by PhotographyBoy

The iconic Port of San Francisco sign that's been seen in movies, TV, and tourism pictures. It's at the back of the Ferry Building just off the Embarcadero in downtown San Francisco.

One of my running heroes

2008-07-23T05:40:00.005-05:00

I was going to post this in my jtj3 blog, but since there's a photo involved I thought I'd put it here also.

Last Sunday, my friend Roger and I went to the opening of a Road Runner Sports store nearby. We went not only to check out the store, but to meet one of my running heroes who happened to be doing an appearance there that day. His name is John Bingham, but if you're into running or read Runners' World, you might know him as "The Penguin."He came to running late in life, but since has completed 40 marathons and hundreds of 5K and 10K races. He also wrote a book on marathon training for non-runners, and another on how to start running--how to train, how to work it into your schedule, etc. He's also the man responsible for one of my favorite quotes for runners training for their first race: "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." It definitely made me feel not quite so bad about my failed marathon attempts...the hard work, and the accomplishment, is just as much in the training as it is in the race itself.

Anyway...there wasn't much of a crowd there, so we stood and talked with John and his wife for probably 15-20 minutes. John's company organizes and manages the Chicago Distance Classic half marathon, so he was handing out and signing technical t-shirts (synthetic fabric, they carry the sweat away from your body--VERY good shirt to do training runs in!). John is a very personable and engaging guy with a big smile and words of encouragement for runners of any level.

One last kinda funny thing--John's wife was nice enough to take this picture of the three of us with my camera phone. She then took another shot with her camera--so the same picture showed up on his blog Monday. Hey, wow, I'm famous now!

Another photo (and a shorter story) soon...

Orbiting the sun...

2008-07-22T21:05:00.003-05:00

OK, so it's not really a sun...I watched this ant crawl around the surface of this flower for a couple minutes. He just went in a big circle around the center part. It looked like an orbit, and with the middle being orange and all, it reminded me of the sun...

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Leaf Beetle

2008-07-21T19:47:00.000-05:00

A leaf beetle, shot on a bright summer day at a small park near home.

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Bridge to Infinity II

2008-07-20T12:01:00.002-05:00

Another view of the Sweden-to-Denmark bridge that I featured in yesterday's post.

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Bridge to Infinity

2008-07-19T08:51:00.001-05:00

I shot this while on vacation last year. This is in the Baltic sea, and the bridge joins Sweden and Denmark. I called it "Bridge to Infinity because you can't see its beginning or its end. I shot a sequence just as we went under the bridge, and this was my favorite of all of them.

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Red Rose

2008-07-18T06:35:00.000-05:00

A macro shot of a beautiful red rose in full bloom.

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Golden Gate Bridge

2008-07-17T17:42:00.001-05:00

San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate Bridge. The color version of this looked a little flat, but I really like the contrast in black and white.

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Water Lily

2008-07-16T06:14:00.001-05:00

I shot this fairly early in the morning at a small park near my work. I was really struck with how calm and mirror-like the surface of the water was. It reminds me of some of the paintings Monet did of water lilies.

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Misty Mountain Hop

2008-07-15T20:26:00.000-05:00

The mist hanging on the mountains and hillsides of the the Inner Passage in Alaska. In person, it looked even cooler than the photo does.

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Backlit leaf

2008-07-14T19:14:00.003-05:00

I took some pictures recently at a small park on my way to work--it's a quiet lake that's just off a busy street. As I was walking back to my car I spotted this backlit leaf. I pretty much just framed it, opened up the lens wide (to blur the background), and shot it as is. Other than cropping, I did no real post-processing.

A leaf--just the way nature intended.

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Baby Heron

2008-07-06T20:59:00.003-05:00

In the past week or so, a group of 5 juvenile blue herons has been making its way through our neighborhood--I've seen them at various times in our back yard, our front yard, in the trees, etc. I managed to catch a couple up in the trees on the 4th, and here is the best-looking one of the bunch. Enjoy.

Another photo soon...

Forget me nots

2008-06-29T16:31:00.003-05:00

From the recent crop of pictures I posted to Picasa. These are a lovely crop of wild forget-me-nots, the official state flower of Alaska. They grow all over the place, and they're really beautiful.

Enjoy.

Another photo soon...

A Whale of a Tail

2008-06-28T19:43:00.005-05:00

A humpback whale's 'tail slap'. This is a technique humpbacks use to stun their prey, making it easier to collect and eat.

Saw this guy, and many of his kin, while whale watching off the coast of Juneau, Alaska.

Lots more photos soon...

What I did on my summer vacation...

2008-06-20T01:00:00.002-05:00

I'm in the middle of a vacation in Alaska--yesterday we spent the entire day inside Denali National Park. I took a ton of pictures, and the ones below were a couple of my favorites. We saw this yearling caribou toward the end of our trip. It caught everyone by surprise--it wasn't more than 100 yards from our bus. Quite a rare sighting, from what I hear. I still need to process lots and lots of pictures but I thought this would be a nice sampler.

Another photo soon...

I left my heart...

2008-06-12T08:13:00.008-05:00

I had a trip to San Francisco a couple weeks ago, and managed to squeeze in some time to shoot in and around the city. Here are a few of my favorites from the trip...enjoy.

Over the Bay Bridge...

2008-06-05T19:57:00.003-05:00

In the 9 years or so that I've been travelling to San Francisco for business, I must have driven over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge about a bajillion times. I've always been struck by the symmetry of the architecture, and how at the right angle it repeats into infinity. I was able to catch this shot while driving over it yesterday, on a bright and sunny day. I got some other shots while driving (with someone else holding the wheel, mind you) that I will put up later...

Another photo soon...

Guest Photo

2008-06-03T10:21:00.002-05:00

A guest photo that I was supposed to post on Friday, but I didn't get to it until today. This comes from my friend Kate, who has submitted a guest photo before. The picture is from the Walt Disney concert hall in Los Angeles. I love the shapes and the shading of grey. This is a picture I'd buy and hang somewhere as a work of art. Nice work, Kate!

Another photo soon...

Golden Gate Bridge II

2008-05-23T16:08:00.003-05:00

I took this while on a bus driving over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. I took full advantage of the 5 fps (Frames Per Second) feature of my Nikon D40x, and I think the results on this one came out pretty good. It's abstract, and not the typical view you'd see every day. Hope you like it.

Another photo soon...

A fine feathered friend

2008-05-19T20:14:00.003-05:00

A patient and tame seagull--this guy sat on his post while I snapped about 10 shots of him. I liked this one the best.

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Haight Ashbury

2008-05-14T12:22:00.002-05:00

The legendary corner of Haight and Ashbury streets in San Francisco. I took this from inside a moving bus, hence the glare spot just to the right of and below the "Ashbury" sign. I still liked the shot a lot, and thought it looked better as a black and white. To me, b&w evokes the '60s era, which was the Haight-Ashbury heyday...

Another photo soon...

My new toy...

2008-05-12T21:51:00.004-05:00

I got a new toy this weekend...a telephoto zoom lens for my camera. It's a Tamron 28-300mm zoom and it'll take the place of two lenses on my older D70 camera body (I can use it both as a "regular" lens and as a zoom). I've been trying to get some good shots of the moon for a while now--I took this tonight, and it came out really crisp and clear, like I wanted to see.

Now that I've got some good glass, look for more of these coming in the future.

Another photo soon...

Golden Gate Bridge

2008-05-10T09:08:00.003-05:00

Another photo from my recent trip and tour of San Francisco...the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. This is one of my favorite shots of the tour.

I shot enough pictures to fill up a 4MB SD card (granted, not all of them were good, but...) so look for more images of this trip in the future.

Another photo soon...

Seven Sisters

2008-05-02T18:23:00.004-05:00

These are the famous "Seven Sisters" of San Francisco. These Victorian houses are referred to as painted ladies, and are among the more recognized examples of this style of architecture. If you recognize these houses, it may be from postcards or pictures from San Francisco--or from the opening credits of the TV series Full House. I took lots of shots of these houses but for various reasons, I liked this one the best. Hope you do, also.

More later...